Backers of Cubs, Red Sox seem to have it all
BOSTON — Fenway Park is billed as the “most beloved ballpark in baseball,” a bit of parochialism that shouldn’t be taken too seriously. No polls suggest Fenway is any more beloved than Wrigley Field, which modestly bills itself as the “Friendly Confines” instead of the world’s greatest confines.
Thousands of Cubs fans made the trip to Boston on Friday to check out the venerable old yard, and despite a rough start, no one seemed too upset with the cramped concourses, the lack of space between your knees and the seat in front, or Jake Arrieta’s first-inning meltdown.
There was no arguing this is a beautiful place in the middle of a baseball-mad city, much like their home park on the North Side.
So how does Fenway compare with Wrigley?
“A solid second,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “Right now I have Wrigley way ahead of everybody. Fenway (is) two and Pittsburgh three. Those would be my top three major league baseball stadiums.”
Maddon conceded Fenway was his preferred destination when he coached and managed in the American League. But that was before he saw the light.
“This is gorgeous, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “This used to be my favorite until I got to see Wrigley. This is wonderful inside, just like Wrigley is. The difference is the location itself. We’re in a neighborhood. When you drive up to the ballpark, there is no freeway along the outfield there.
“There are some restaurants and bars, etc., around here, which is kind of cool. But Wrigley is just a big neighborhood ballpark, and I love it for all of that.
“Yes, you can compare the (Green Monster) to the ivy. There (are) some intrinsic values of both. Just the location of Wrigley, the enveloping feeling you get because the bleachers absolutely surround you. … Just the whole feeling about the place tops everything else.”
Cubs players have been looking forward to this trip for weeks. Kris Bryant recalled he didn’t hit one home run here during a practice when he played in college.
“Hopefully I can change the tides there,” he said beforehand.
Bryant, whose father, Mike, was once a Red Sox prospect, launched one over the top of the Green Monster in his first inning at-bat, destroying the tides.
The Monster rules here, and Kyle Schwarber said he was planning on going inside and on top of it this weekend, if not over it.
“It’s crazy if you think about it — two historic franchises going at it,” Schwarber said. “Even the city kind of reminds of how Chicago is. It’s a sports town, the fans are crazy about their team.
“It’s special to come to a place with so much history, and you can say the same for Wrigley. We have the luxury of playing there every day.”
Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein, who grew up at Fenway and has spent the bulk of his career working at both ballparks, seemed to be in seventh heaven returning to his old stomping grounds. He sneaked in Thursday night during the Yankees-Red Sox game and said he walked to Fenway from the Cubs team hotel Friday.
“It’s good to see so many Cubs and Red Sox fans,” Epstein said. “Two of my favorite kind of people.”
Fenway provided a role model for the Wrigley renovation, and Chairman Tom Ricketts never has hidden his fan crush on the ballpark.
Yet the cities have divergent personalities. When I asked Jon Lester, one of the Cubs’ many Red Sox refugees, if there really was a big difference between playing in Boston and Chicago, he feigned disbelief.
“Really?” Lester replied, questioning the question. “It is (different). I shouldn’t say a big difference. But I’ve said before, you’re taking a team in the Northeast with all the coverage and demands of a Northeastern team, and then you have the Midwest, a little more laid-back and kind of just chill. As far as the demands an organization puts on you, they’re very similar.”
In other words, if Cubs starters were caught eating friend chicken and drinking beer in the clubhouse during a game they weren’t playing in, no one in Chicago would bat an eye. When Lester, John Lackey, Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz were fingered for that alleged clubhouse offense during the Red Sox’s stretch run in 2011, Boston reacted as if the world was coming to an end.
Sometimes it’s good to be chill.